Point Zero MHA OC AU

Behind Closed Doors

Andromeda finally calmed down enough to finally move from his concrete couch. The cold concrete cooled his sweating self. His breaths slowed down with his heart as the adrenaline in his veins slowly died down.

He packed up his gear into the boxes, picking up the slightly heavy box. He hugged the box like you would a plushie before walking out the alley. He walked around to a familiar apartment. 

Inside, up the stairs, through the door.

The smell of alcohol had died down but the odor lived there. His mom was now awake and looked smugly at Andy.

"You smell like smoke" She turned back to the television. She flicked through a couple of stations before finishing off on the news.

"Local vigilante, Point Zero, has made a daring save today as he managed to escape the heroes once again. This time almost being captured by All Might himself. He jumped into a fire to save a kid being held hostage by a villain." The news reporter broadcasted to the world.

"You made it on the news once again. This station loves you." She gave a proud, sly smile as she moved over on the couch.

"All Might caused that scene" He looked away from the TV and turned to his mom.

"What?"

"I had given him the captured villain and he managed to get loose" Andy walked over to the open seat on the couch. With every step he took the smell of alcohol covered his burnt smell. He placed the gear filled box on the coffee table in front of him.

"How did a villain escape the number one hero? You're a better hero and you don't even have a quirk" She pointed her hand flat at the TV. Andy just shrugged back in confusion.

"So, let me see what you made. Anything new?" She pulled the box of tools closer to her and started picking up all of the items. Andy wanted to object but he knew it wouldn't turn out well and he was too non confrontational to say anything.

"Ohhh these gloves are new" she pulled out the gloves used to stick the walls out. She placed it on her hand and moved her hand around a couple of times. A quick wow is heard before she slaps her hand on the table. It quickly stuck on like glue and her hand became stuck to the table.

"Uh oh" she tried removing her hand but the table followed. Andy reached over, sliding her hand off the side of the table. She removes her hand from her gloves and places them back in the box.

"Those are super cool. Is there anything else new?" She looked at Andy, eyes gleaming as he nodded.

He pulled out his boots and flipped them upside down to reveal a normal looking sole of a shoe. Hidden inside was a key that matched perfectly with the pattern on the bottom.

"So that's how you got out. I didn't even see it at first '' She pulled it out and placed it back in the shoe. Andy took pride in his creations but he wanted his mom to say it. No one pretending to be a friend should say it to him.

The bottles that filled the floor reminded him that his mom had left a long time ago. A new person who stole her body now lays on the couch instead of his real mom. His mom had stopped doing almost everything a mom is supposed to. Although he is loved,  there is no help for him.

"You need a capture weapon, don't you think?" She took out the gauntlets and rotated them around looking for anything new.

"Like what?" Andy muttered out

"I don't know. You need something long ranged" She placed the gauntlet on her arm, although it didn't fit properly. She held it on, pointing it around like a gun.

Andy grabbed the other, looking at it like his own creation somehow confused him. His mom was right, he didn't have any long ranged weapons. The most he had was a vacuum and it was for personal reasons. He was just lucky it came in handy today. 

"You smell like smoke. You should wash up" She looked at him, grabbing his clothes and getting a better smell. "And sewage too"

Andy didn't notice the sewage smell and brought his arm up to smell himself. He did in fact smell like rotten shit. He jolted his hand back at the bad smell before packing up his gear and taking it back to his room. 

The bathroom was covered in grime and the faucet barely spat out water. Soap bars sat in their holds half melted and half attached to the cup itself. The tile walls were covered in mildew that intensified from the bottom and faded to the top. The curtains followed the same rule of mold covering the bottom and fading to the top.

Andy turned the shower cold this time. He didn't know why he wanted a cold shower, maybe he wanted to cool off his head so it doesn't explode from stress.

Outside the shower he looked around for clean clothes only to realize he didn't have much left anyways so he figured it was time to wash his clothes. Any excuse to get out the house was a good excuse.

Andy packed his dirty clothes, and even his sweater from his gear into the bag. He hauled it on his back and tried to pass quietly by his mom, although that was a failure.

"Can you wash my clothes for me?" She called out not even looking at him.

"Sure" Andy dropped the bag on the floor and went into her room, which was next to his. He picked up the clothes scattered across the floor, which wasn't as much as his bag of clothes. He placed it in another bag and walked into the living room, grabbing the other bag and walking out the door. 

Outside the apartment, the city was empty and bland. The colors were either muted or run down until the only thing left was a pale resemblance of the color that used to be.

Eventually with a bit of a walk Andy got to the laundromat. It was near the beach but quite far off still. The smell of ocean water filled the nearby streets with salty air.